Max chuckled to herself a little; she remembered being Jays' age, and being equally annoyed at having to wake up in the morning. They started back on the path to the canyon, and after about an hour, they could see it. Max stopped to talk to them. "Alright, now, last time, I headed through the canyon, and got ambushed, so this time I suggest we go up and along the ridge; it will take longer, but it will also be much safer." She looked at them, to see what they thought.
Ace shook his head "You two stay down here and use the cover of the fallen rocks, I'll go up there so they don't know about a sniper plus I can move faster while armored" he said to them
Max looked a little concerned; she didn't like the idea of being on the lower ground again.... but she trusted Ace to keep them safe. "Alright," She said, after a minute. "Stay close, okay Jay?" She said, smiling reassuringly at her before heading cautiously into the canyon.
Ace quickly climbed the wall and was now on the ridge with his sniper Jay walked next to max and kept he head low
They walked on a bit, and soon came to the place where she and Ace had first met. She bodies were still there, as were the blood stains on the rock where Max's ear had been shot off. She shuddered a bit looking at it all.
Ace walked along the ridge till he came to the cave he woke up in "Can you two come up here please" he called out standing infront of the mouth of the cave
Max blinked, then looked up at him. "Um... yeah..." She said, taking a final look at the bodies before picking her way up the rocky slope and standing next to Ace. "Everything alright?" She asked, a little out of breath from climbing in her armour and saddlebags.
Ace was looking into the cave "I don't want to go in there alone....but I need to see what's in there" he said as jay finished climbing "what happened here?"
"This is where we first met," Max said, slowly, looking a little concerned. "Don't you remember? You saved me from those ponies who were trying to kill me..."
"Yes but it's dark in there and I never went back in" he said to max as jay made a 'now I get it' noise
Max gave him a little hug. "It's alright Ace, you don't have to go in if you don't want to" She said, soothingly. "But if you feel you have to, Jay and I will be right there with you."
Ace smiled as he turned on his pipbuck light and walked in It didn't take look all they found was some wrappers and the rock that had fallen and hit his head "Sorry for that.....I just had to know" he said knowing that had been a waste of time
"It's alright," Max said, smiling and hugging him. "Now, let's get going again; I don't want to be stuck in this canyon when it gets dark..."
Max nuzzled Ace and leaned against him a little as they walked, enjoying being close to him. After a few more hours walking, she noticed red bars on her e.s.f. "I think we might have trouble ahead," She said quietly, stopping.
ace stopped them before kissing her on the lips "be careful" he told her before going up the cliftside and pulling out the sniper
Max blushed a little and nodded. She headed on down the canyon with Jay, and then ducked down behind some rocks when she saw the ponies; they weren't like the other ponies they'd seen out in the wastes, these ponies were well equipped and clean. They wore black armour, and were obviously fairly well disciplined. Max was reminded of the soldiers she'd seen when she was a filly.... There were about ten of the ponies, but luckily they had their backs to Max and Jay, instead they were looking at four other ponies. The other ponies did look like ones who had shot at Max and Ace; ragged, malnourished, and one even had a string of ears hanging from her outfit. They were tied up in front of the armoured ponies, on their knees, with their backs to their capturers.
jay looked at max "what are they doing?" she asked whispering one of the ponies ears flicked at the sound
Max put a hoof over Jay's mouth, and gestured for her to be quiet. She looked about and saw a radroach scuttling around. She picked it up with her magic, and dropped it by the side of their rock. As the pony whose ear had flicked turned around to investigate, he saw the radroach, scoffed, and blew it to pieces with a shot from his markspony carbine. Max flinched as she was showered in green gunk, but remained silent. The pony turned back around as another pony started talking. "You have been found guilty of raiding our trade caravans; a crime which carries an automatic death penalty. Do you have any last words?" It was one of the black armoured ponies, walking slowly behind the captive ponies. "P-please!" One of the ponies begged, "We didn't mean no harm! We was only trying to feed our families!" The pony walking behind them shot the pony in the leg, causing him to cry out in pain, and fall forward. "Such lies will not be tolerated. You have forfeited all rights to last words. The execution shall now commence." He walked away from the ponies, and the other black-armoured ponies raised their rifles.
